The World According to Garp by John Irving

The story deals with the life of T. S. Garp. His mother, Jenny Fields, is a strong-willed nurse who wants a child but not a husband. She encounters a dying ball turret gunner known only as Technical Sergeant Garp who was reduced to a perpetually priapic mental vegetable by pieces of shrapnel that pierced his head. Jenny rapes Garp in his bedridden, uncomprehending, dying state to impregnate herself, and names the resultant son after him "T. S." (standing only for "Technical Sergeant"). Jenny raises young Garp alone, taking a position at an all-boys school.

The 200th greatest fiction book of all time


This book is on the following lists:

  1. - 18th on The 100 Favorite Novels of Librarians (Bookman.com)
  2. - 34th on Entertainment Weekly's Top 100 Novels (Entertainment Weekly)
  3. - 37th on Radcliffe's 100 Best Novels (Radcliffe Publishing Course)
  4. - 38th on Koen Book Distributors Top 100 Books of the Past Century (themodernnovel.com)
  5. - Världsbiblioteket (The World Library) (Tidningen Boken)
  6. - National Book Award - Fiction (National Book Foundation)
  7. - 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime (Amazon.com (USA))
  8. - The 100 Greatest American Novels, 1893 – 1993 (Jeff O'Neal at Bookriot.com)

Buy This Book

Name Binding Sales Rank Lowest New Lowest Used Published
The World According to Garp Audio CD 1684872 $264.89 $21.01 2005
The World According to Garp Mass Market Paperback 1898310 $1.24 2
The World According to Garp (Ballantine Reader's Circle) by Irving, John unknown Edition [Paperback(1997)] Paperback 761806 $6.42 $2.50
The World According to Garp: A Novel Kindle Edition 47412 $14.99 2018
The World According to Garp By John Irving Hardcover 1180670 $95.00 $17.95 1978
The World According to Garp: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle) Paperback 572854 $11.20 $1.58 1997
The World According to Garp Paperback 1790683 $6.31 $0.01
The World According to Garp Mass Market Paperback 2809129 $12.00 $0.01
World According to Garp Paperback 1543412 $6.33 $0.01
El Mundo Segun Garp / The World According to Garp (Spanish Edition) Paperback 11470468 $24.94 $13.99
El Mundo Segun Garp / The World According to Garp (Spanish Edition) Paperback 11503074 $14.95
The World According to Garp: A Novel Hardcover 155424 $18.60 $5.00 2018
The World According to Garp (Chinese Edition) Unknown Binding 15146734 $59.99 2008
The World According to Garp 20th (twentieth) edition Text Only Mass Market Paperback 6547392 $17.93 $4.27
Garp und wie er die Welt sah (German Edition) Kindle Edition 3083239 $10.99 2012
The World According to Garp (Modern Library) Hardcover 177555 $11.42 $0.96 1998
El Mundo Segun Garp / The World According to Garp (Spanish Edition) Paperback 6433348 $384.82 $7.38 2002
Garp Und Wie Er Die Welt Sah (German Edition) Paperback 5858482 $6.99 $1.93 1998
[(The World According to Garp)] [Author: John Irving] published on (August, 1994) Paperback 388319 $29.93 $4.99 1994
The World According to Garp Mass Market Paperback 67538 $13.00 $0.35 1990